Conference'Designer embryos & stem cell design: the final frontier
in assistedconception' / Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists,
London / 22February 2002 / 9.30amThis one day meeting, organised by the British Fertility
Society (BFS), willdiscuss the science and ethics of stem cell research
before asking 'What'sso wrong with designer babies?' For more information,
emailinfo@britishfertilitysociety.org.uk<mailto:info@britishfertilitysociety.org.uk> .Contents

The text of the British Governments new legislation
to ban HumanReproductive Cloning

A Bill to prohibit the placing in a woman of a human embryo
which has beencreated otherwise than by fertilisation.1. The Offence1. A person who places in a woman a human embryo which
has been createdotherwise than by fertilisation is guilty of an offence.2. A person who is guilty of the offence is liable on
conviction onindictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10
years or a fine orboth

A bill explicitly banning human reproduction through cloning
is beingpublished by the UK Government on Thursday after it passed
a first readingunopposed in the House of Lords on Wednesday. Ministers
say their aim is to close a recently exposed loophole in the current law
that could be used to justify any unlicensed cloning experiments.Critics
say the government is rushing to bring forward bad legislation and they
will make strenuous efforts to amend it.The government action was deemed necessary after anti-abortion
campaigners,the Pro-Life Alliance, won a High Court ruling last week
that laid bare amajor deficiency in the legislation covering embryology
research.Medical malpractice This flaw centred on the legal definition
of an embryo - the union of an egg and a sperm. Because a clone is produced
in a different way, the judge ruled that currentregulations did not embrace the new technology. This
loophole, in theory, could allow someone to conduct cloning experiments
without the licensed permission of the Human Fertilization and Embryology
Authority, the body that is supposed to oversee this area of research.In reality, commentators said, other laws relating to
medical malpractice and even assault could be used to prevent cloning experiments.Therapeutic
cloningNevertheless, the government is determined to remove
the legal flaw. It alsointends to appeal against the High Court ruling. Ministers
hope that by closing the loophole researchers will then be properly licensed
to carry out a more limited form of cloning - so-called therapeutic cloning
- that aims to develop replacement cells to treatdegenerative diseases.The government's critics say the country's embryology
legislation is deeplyflawed and there is little point in merely trying to
patch it up.Peers and MPs opposed to the use of embryos for research
on ethical groundssay they will attempt to amend the bill so that both
reproductive andtherapeutic cloning are banned. 'Proven success' Richard
Gardiner, chairman of the Royal Society, argues this would be wrong: "We
need to secure a watertight ban on reproductive cloning," he told Radio
4's Today programme."But we would argue very strongly not at the expense
of therapeutic cloning,which is a vital technique for helping us to understand
how you canreprogram the genetic information from specialised cells
so that we can moreeffectively help patients. Lord Alton, who opposes all
forms of human cloning, told Today analternative had emerged since previous legislation was
drafted."Since January last, impressive new evidence... illustrates
that there is analternative, and that's the use of adult stem cells.
There's a vast biomedical potential there, a proven success record in laboratory
culture and a proven success record in current clinicaltreatment," he said.Contents

Tentative nodSINGAPORE -- The use of embryonic stem cells received
a tentative nod inSingapore on Saturday after a multisectoral advisory
committee agreed to theuse of 14-day old embryos for research.However, the Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) tasked
to address theethical, legal and social issues arising from biomedical
research said humancloning must be prohibited."We feel perhaps taking embryos at an early stage when
the full personhoodis far from being realized yet... (provides) an opportunity
to help curepatients, alleviate their suffering and even prolong
their life," said BACchairman Lim Pin.Richard Magnus, a senior district judge who heads the
BAC's human stem cellresearch subcommittee, said: "We are just confining our
recommendation withregard to early embryos not more than 14 days old. That's
as far as the BACis prepared to recommend at this point in time."Scientists in Singapore, a prosperous Southeast Asian
city-state, arealready involved in stem-cell research despite the absence
of ethical, legaland social guidelines.The republic is poised to become an important center
for the fledgingscience by the end of the year when one of the world's
top three stem-cellsuppliers, ES Cell International, sets up shop here.This has prompted the government to set up the BAC last
year to draw upguidelines after the use of human embryos in research
has generated intensecontroversy worldwide because of the ethical and moral
questions involved.Embryonic stem cells are undifferentiated cells that
can evolve into blood,liver, muscle and other organs. Researchers hope they
can one day be used torepair damaged organs or cure diseases such as Parkinson's,
diabetes andAlzheimer's.In a media briefing to announce their tentative position,
the BAC drew theline, saying it was against the cloning of humans as
its "possible benefitis greatly overweighed by ethical concerns and safety
issues."Lim said however that they would "entertain the possibility
of keeping theembryo perhaps for research purposes" but this would
be considered only as a"last resort."Last week, the BAC released a consultation paper to 38
religious, medicaland other interest groups ahead of dialogues sessions
in December.Contents

BIOLOGICAL WAR-FEARSmallpox vaccine uses fetal cell lineSome Americans may refuse shot, worsening potential outbreakBy Jon Dougherty) 2001 WorldNetDaily.comA company that would use a stem-cell line from an aborted
fetus tomanufacture a new smallpox vaccine is one of only a few
firms beingconsidered for a major new government contract despite
concerns that the useof such tissues could lead many people to refuse the
shots, therebyworsening any outbreak.The company, Acambis PLC of England, in partnership with
the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention<http://www.biospace.com/ct/detail.cfm?ClinicalID=290004>
in Atlanta, hasalready been contracted by the federal government to
make 40 million dosesof the vaccine.According to the Washington Post, that contract signed
last year is setto increase to 54 million doses. But, as a part of a
plan being formulatedby the Department of Health and Human Services, the number
could rise by asmuch as 250 million doses under new requirements to manufacture
enoughvaccine for every man, woman and child in the country.Three other companies besides Acambis are being considered
for the newvaccine contract, the Post reported.The department announced earlier this month that the
agency is solicitingbids for the manufacture of a new smallpox vaccine. The
current stockpile,at just 15 million doses, is far from adequate should
terrorists release newstrains of the disease in public, HHS Secretary Tommy
Thompson said.Officials have voiced new concerns over intentional smallpox
outbreaks inthe wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and the outbreak of
anthrax at variouslocations along the East Coast.Meanwhile, health officials with the Food and Drug Administration
say themethod of manufacturing the old vaccine, called Dryvax,
which was made byWyeth using calf skin, is "no longer considered optimal."
Instead, theagency says the new smallpox vaccine "will be prepared
in MRC-5 cells" aline of aborted fetal cells dating back to 1966 because
that method ismore efficient."The MRC-5 line was developed from lung tissue taken
from a 14-week fetusaborted for psychiatric reasons from a 27-year-old physically
healthywoman," said a description of the cell tissue by the
Coriell Institute forMedical Research at the University of Medicine and Dentistry
of New Jersey,where the line is maintained. The institute further describes
it as "normalhuman fetal lung fibroblast."<http://locus.umdnj.edu/nia/nia_cgi/sample.cgi?MRC-5>The new manufacturing method has concerned some pro-life
groups, who arguethat the use of aborted fetal tissue could cause pro-life
supporters torefuse it, making any outbreak worse in terms of duration
and mortality."If enough people refuse the vaccine, we may be faced
with serious epidemicproblems," said Debi Vinnege, executive director of Children
of God ForLife, <http://www.cogforlife.org/> an organization
that monitors the use ofaborted fetal tissue in the manufacture of vaccines."There is no reason to endanger the lives of hundreds
of thousands, if notmillions, of Americans when perfectly acceptable alternative
methods may beused to cultivate the smallpox vaccine," she told WorldNetDaily.Lenore Gelb, a spokeswoman for the FDA, said the use
of the stem-cell linefor vaccine production was not new, adding that it was
not up to her agencyto decide who should and should not receive the vaccine."The FDA doesn't have that role," she said.Asked if she was concerned about a prolonged outbreak
due to the refusal bysome to take the vaccine, she said, "FDA approves a vaccine
based on the'safety and effective' [criteria]." She said "recommendations
for who shouldget a vaccine" were up to the CDC.Smallpox 'easily transmitted'Vaccinations to prevent smallpox have not been required
in the United Statessince 1972, says HHS, because it was largely eliminated
as a threat in theUnited States.Caused by a virus known as Variola major, smallpox "is
considered one of themost dangerous potential biological weapons because it
is easily transmittedfrom person to person and because few people carry full
immunity to thevirus," according to department documentation.Although a worldwide immunization program eradicated
the smallpox disease in1977, small quantities of the smallpox virus still exist
in two securefacilities in the United States and Russia, the government
said."However, it is possible that unrecognized stores of
smallpox virus existelsewhere in the world," said an HHS assessment."Smallpox vaccine has proven to be highly effective in
preventing infection.In unvaccinated people exposed to smallpox, the vaccine
can lessen theseverity of, or even prevent, illness if given within
four days afterexposure," said Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the
National Instituteof Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes
of Health, adivision of the HHS, in testimony to the Senate Appropriations
CommitteeNov. 2.Nevertheless, there is obvious concern among experts
that terroristentities as they have with anthrax could eventually
reintroduce smallpoxinto U.S. society. If that happens, some public health
experts say extrememeasures would be needed to combat the threat.One such plan is already in the works. Last month, all
50 state governorswere sent a copy of a proposal that, if passed into law,
would grant each ofthem new authority to act in the event of a health emergency
like a smallpoxoutbreak.According to the report, the measure would allow governors
upon thedeclaration of a health emergency to invoke the authority
to order roadsand airports closed, to quarantine entire cities, and
to move people toholding facilities like sports stadiums, if need be,
to protect the rest ofthe public from becoming infected."In tough times, you have to make tough decisions," Paul
Jacobsen, assistantcommissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Public
Health, told theBoston Herald Monday.One of those "extreme measures" could be compulsory vaccination,
some worry.Under the proposal, even those who philosophically disagree
with theingredients of the vaccine may, under extreme measures,
be vaccinatedagainst their will for the good of an entire community.Nevertheless, April Bell, a spokeswoman for the CDC,
told WorldNetDaily thatthe United States does not currently have a mandatory
vaccinationrequirement. Also, she said that in the event of widespread
infection,universal vaccination may not even be necessary.Under the epidemiological concept of "herd immunity,"
Bell said, "you wouldvaccinate around the case. If some people refused to
be vaccinated, youvaccinate those they were in contact with," thereby isolating
the spread ofthe disease."That's how smallpox was eradicated in the first place,"
she said, addingthat smallpox carries a relatively low 30 percent
mortality rate.Bell said the CDC had no position on the state emergency
health powerslegislation. However, according to Lawrence O. Gostin,
director of theCenter for Law and the Public's Health at Johns Hopkins
and GeorgetownUniversities, <http://www.publichealthlaw.net/index.html>
the author of themeasure, the "act ensures a strong, effective and timely
response to publichealth emergencies without unduly interfering" with
civil rights andliberties."Emergency health threats, including those caused by
bioterrorism andepidemics, require the exercise of extraordinary government
functions," hewrote in a preamble introduction to his 40-page "model"
bill.The bill was drafted in collaboration with the National
Governor'sAssociation, National Conference of State Legislatures,
National Associationof Attorneys General and the National Association of
City and County HealthOfficers.If you'd like to sound off on this issue, please take
part in theWorldNetDaily poll. <http://worldnetdaily.com/polls>Contents